Classified Advertising Software

[Spirit]

I posted this "over the road", but thought it is worth posting here.

Having recently read a few threads about people being ripped off, why is there no rating system etc, I thought I would post this up.

I recently placed an advert for something on the Alfa owners forum and they use software from here: PhotoPost Classifieds - PHP Based Classified Ads Software for Community Websites

I think it is bloody excellent. When I first started the advert I had to enter some basic details like my full name, address and phone number that is only visible to the admins on there (for security). Then you proceed to place the advert and you can pick various types of ads, such as "Buy It Now", "Auction" etc, basically much the same way as eBay ! You can also set the number of days for the ad to run, payment methods, rate the seller etc.

Just thought we could replace the whole For Sale forum with a something like this ? If you want to see what the Alfa one is like then take a look here: Alfa Romeo Classifieds - Auctions - Main Index - Powered by PhotoPost Classifieds

They have it all set up in different categories etc. Seems very professional.

You could also make some money from this by setting a small fee per advert.

Edit:

Also read this on their site:

"If you already have a forum (vBulletin, UBB Threads, phpBB, DCForum, or InvisionBoard),you'll appreciate that PhotoPost Classifieds was designed to seamlessly integrate into your site without the need for your users to register twice and maintain two logins."

 

[Nick]

Thanks for the links, I do have something similar to in my codebase being worked on at the moment. it will be quite a change and quite an improvement hopefully. But like many things they take time so it wont be live for a while as yet.
It will do both advertising and be a directory of companies.

 

[Spirit]

No worries Nick, if it's helped in any way then great

 

[stevolution2010]

i thought we already had this with the name and shame thread???

 

[ElDopesta]

The system that is being suggested here may be of some benefit but it is in no way bullet proof.

The only sellers (majority anyway) that would be 100% bonafide in regards to conformity would be the registered Traders as they would no doubt be providing land line number(s) and some form of ID that would be traceable prior to the inception of their ads and the information provided by them could be vetted.

It would still be easy enough to provide a Pay As You Go Sim Number in the contact field that could be easily thrown away at a later date.

This is a good idea Spirit as far as it goes but we have discussed similar ideas many a time in the past and for every "Great" idea thrown up by a member, another member has easily come up with a scenario that has shot it down.

The best way to make sure that a member of a Forum gets what they want from another member is by collecting in person and thereby inspecting the item(s).

This poses many problems due to the fact that most Forum members do not live close to each other.

It was due to the fact that members over the road were getting ripped off on a regular basis that I posted up the Rogue or Rose and the Wall of Shame threads until we can come up with a valid solution.

This is a topic that warrants discussion, so for that reason, I hope it continues as there must be a viable option out there somewhere.


El

 

[Skuff]

Had an idea about this the other day..

Have an independent mod do all transactions..

Ie

1- frank wants to buy betties bonnet, so they arrange fee etc
2- frank sends money to the mod, Betty send bonnet to mod
3- mod then checks bonnet, then sends it to frank if it's as advertised. Mod then sends Betty the money

Only downsides to this is that it could be quite time consuming, would obviously have to charge a fee for the mods work, and also will end up costing double the postage in the end for the buyer.


Or to make it easier and be worthwhile, the mod could just hold the money. When item is recieved, the money could then be forwarded to the seller.